Our first homeschooling day will be Jan. 2, 2006. We are excited and nervous, all of us! I have been reading different books and getting advice. I also have Mary Pride's Complete Guide to Getting Started in Homeschooling. I don't have the time or money to do a lot of things that she has suggested that I do, like joining the Home School Legal Defense Association. Is it really necessary? I don't have time for a seminar and don't have the money for the books about homeschooling. I was nervous enough about actually teaching the curriculum, but now, I am concerned about these issues, too. Can anyone offer some sound advice on these matters? And, can anyone offer some advice for the first day of classes?

Joining HSLDA is definitely a must if you have the money for it, but if you don't, you don't. It's basically insurance against the government. As for buying curriculum, you can often get used curriculum quite cheap at support group book sales, or share a copy with others, or just use materials from the library. You don't necessarily have to pay the several hundred dollars for a packaged curriculum (though many people do to save time and effort).

What state are you in, and have you tried looking for homeschool support groups in your area?

I live in Arkansas. My husband and I have been trying to contact different groups, but most are too busy to really help us or answer questions. I didn't think there were that many people in the town where I live homeschooling, but I was wrong. Most of them don't belong to a group as far as I can tell. With the gas prices what they are and the nearest group being at least 50 miles away, it makes it difficult to get together with anybody. I also wanted to let everybody know that I have met with NO opposition to homeschooling my daughter, not from the school or relatives or friends. Actually, most think it is a wonderful idea. As for the curriculum, we already have the Alpha Omega Lifepac packaged curriculum. We decided to do it that way because we needed the structure to help us with homeschooling for the first time. We found the package at a great price on ebay from Discount Christian Software. It included Bible, Math, History, Science, and Language Arts. We are also doing our own curriculum for music, art, and P.E.

When I first started homeschooling my girls, I remember the first day feeling quite harried. The next day, the Lord showed me we needed to spend time with Him to have a blessed day. So we did: we sang songs, we prayed and read a Bible story and talked about it. It made such a difference to me, having that time with God with my kids.
I also think it's a great idea to start with a structured curriculum from the beginning, so you don't have to concern yourself with lesson planning.
God bless you in your new journey!

YOU ARE NOT ALONE I AM COSIDERING HS MY OWN 2 CHILDREN AND I AM SO GLAD TO HAVE FOUND THIS FORUM . I AM LIKE YOU SCARED!!!!!!! I AM AFRAID OF FAILING MY CHILDREN ,BUT I KNOW I CAN DO ALL THINGS AS LONG AS GOD IS ENVOLVED! I WILL PRAY FOR YOU TODAY! I HOPE YOU POST AGAIN SOON I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO FINDING OUT HOW EVERYTHING WENT ON YOUR 1ST DAY. IF YOU DON'T MIND ME ASKING HOW MANY CHILDREN AND WHAT ARE THE AGES OF YOUR CHILDREN? MINE ARE CURRENTLY IN THE 2ND AND 3RD GRADES IN PUBLIC SCHOOL. I AM LIKE YOU I HAVE TRIED WITHOUT SUCCESS TO CONTACT DIFFERENT STATE GROUPS AND I KNOW OF NO LOCAL GROUPS OR EVEN FAMILIES I CAN TALK TO IN MY AREA.

Hello,
15 hill I am in Arkansas as well. Although we are not hs this year we will be next year or technically this summer. Where exactly are you at in AR? We live in Conway area. I know there are groups, I haven't contacted them yet as per we have started hs yet.
I was a hs from 9-12 grade back in the day when it was slightly illegal still. LOL!!!!

I hope you hs days get easier as it goes along. I am always told the first week is hard, the first month is hard but after 6 months you all get the hang of it.

hi all,
I just moved to ny and we live in the middle of no where. I had my son in public school for 4 days and pulled him out due to he was so far advanced over the other kids. Today was our 1st day of home school, I have to admit I'm terrified I'm gonna screw up. I love my children they are my world. Right now I'm only homeschooling 1, considering the others. Any advice or is they any other homeschool parents in my area?

Hi,
I started schooling in July 2005 for two weeks and then stopped to regroup until Augest 15th. I too felt stress in that I didn't want to let my children down. But I have since read a wonderful book called Pocketful of Pinecones. It was wonderful and one thing I learned from it was that I needed to take a deep breath and relax.
It taught me more than anything that kids are learning all of the time, not just when they are schooling.
I also use the AOP lifepacs and have found that they are a good curriculum but the boys ( I have three 12,8 and 5) and asking for more that they can do with their hands so we may try to find something different for Science this year.

I have also found that finding someone in the state of Ark to talk to about Homeschooling is difficult. We live in the Hardy area. We love living here but we are out of touch with other homeschool families.
Haven1